I’m a big fan of innovation. All for it, it is critical to the vibrancy of our economy. That said, being a successful entrepreneur and/or investor often has as much to do with being open to what has worked, and then applying one’s own wrinkle to the tried and true. That’s why I love the below cartoon so much.
Anyhow, I came across a piece on a startup called LaunchBit – http://www.launchbit.com – which fit the “inside” the box theme to a T. In this case, the entrepreneurs behind the service, Jennifer Chin and Elizabeth Yin, are taking the proven ad network business model and introducing the wrinkle of email newsletters. In their own words:
“Most ad channels are pretty lousy and don’t have a good return. Advertisers need a better way of putting their promotions in front of the right people. Meanwhile, niche newsletter publishers work hard to build their readership and create quality content for the subscribers. LaunchBit aims to create an ad network for email that brings together advertisers with niche email newsletter publishers to create a positive ad experience for everyone. Advertisers get the word out to the right people. Newsletters get rewarded. Subscribers get offers and discounts.”
The inspiration for the business, as is often the case, arose out of frustration related to the founder’s original venture.
“When we wrote the Startup Guide and promoted an online classroom for new web entrepreneurs, we advertised in all sorts of channels. The best channel by far was the email newsletters we managed to get placed in. However, finding and negotiating those placements took a lot of time and effort. Turns out it wasn’t just difficult for us; it’s difficult for everyone! Newsletters wanted relevant promotions for their readers and advertisers wanted to provide them, but it was difficult to get the two to connect. That’s when we decided to create an ad network for email.”
Great stuff.
